Calling All Musicians, Singers and Dancers at SAP TechEd

One of the most enjoyable events we ever created was the SAP Jam Band at SAP TechEd in Las Vegas last year.

One evening, once the main program on the show floor was over, we brought out instruments and played some great tunes that everyone can sing and dance to. We had the lyrics on a big screen to make it easy for everyone to join in.

[Unfortunately Brian Enoch’s rendition of Summer of ’69 got taken down 🙁 Copyright infringement. But it was a parody and a hat tip to Brian Adams at the same time ;-)]

As you can see in this video, it is a forgiving crowd, singing off tune [which was mostly me in the background during this song] is no problem.

Everyone has a good time, is singing dancing, clapping, moving to the music 🙂

The goal of the event is exactly that: after a full day of concentrated learning to relax enjoy some good music, sing and dance.

If you want to be part of this event, please join us at our next SAP Mentor Monday August 5th 1pm PST when we will coordinate our activities and see whether we will be able to get enough momentum to rock in Amsterdam and maybe even in Bangalore too. It all depends on you doing your little part, stepping up to the microphone, sing and make some music. Rock-On!

“Palo Basso” is clever. Going back to SAP’s roots Wallber Shop would work. It is a bummer that Sacapella is phonetically to close to “suck” 🙁 Can I even post that word here on SCN? How about SAPer Shop?

Hmmmmmm….10 hours of “Careless Whisper”. On a kazoo. In Vegas. TOTALLY doable! 😏

There is, of course, a major flaw in my/our plan, which is that my role does not typically involve attendance at SAP TechEd, so some persuasion might be required. Do we get free passes (and a dressing room, with M&Ms), if we’re TALENT? Ha!

If you truly love a cappella (and who DOESN’T??!?), then may I suggest a post-Tech Ed adventure to SoJam, a nationally known a cappella festival (and which is where I first saw Da Vinci’s Notebook) the week after TechEd, on 8-10 November. It’s taking place right in my neighborhood. Which means I’ll show all you mentor types around and introduce you to Southern specialties like fried chicken, ribs, and of course biscuits.

I am all set to make this happen in Bangalore. Challenge is I need to get good at least in one – dance, sing or music by then! I hope this gets added in the agenda builder so that people are aware of the event.

There MUST be a way to get university students etc. engaged in this. I have a secret to share….I’m a geek. And a nerd.

And it has been my experience that many other geeks and nerds also love a cappella, and they tend to start a cappella groups at universities where geniuses hang out, like Duke University, and NC State, and RIT, and Stanford, and……the list goes on.

Anyone have insight on how we can get their a cappella groups engaged in this endeavor? There are few things in life more fun than vocal percussion with a bunch of future engineers.

Some Twitter accounts of interest (many of these schools have multiple groups; I’ve mentioned just a few).

Did anyone mention Bollywood? I am not really a fan of Bollywood music (due to which I can’t rely on most of my friends for my music recommendations) but the Indian in me is glad to know about Bollywood’s presence at Stanford. And, I just checked a couple of their performances on Youtube; they’ve selected some good tracks, especially this one – Vande Mataram – which, by the way, is not Bollywood (but a song from A R Rahman‘s album).

Marcia I love that you proposed to add a-cappella to the SAP Jam Band mix. We should definitely promote it with the students that will be there through the University Alliance program. Ann Rosenberg is the best to make them aware. The troupe itself should grow out of us SAP TechEd participants. We will not be on the level of the dedicated groups from the Universities, but we will have more people from the community fully engaged and the lines between spectators and participants blurred.

My dream is that at the end of the evening everyone has done at least one little thing to make the evening a success. You walk out of it bummed, that it is over, beaming because you enjoyed it so much, were part of making it happen and you already think about what you will bring to the event next year. That would be marvelous and that is how I felt last year. Let’s do it!

Calling all a-cappella singers to join us. The beauty of a-cappella, they can rehears almost anywhere.

Anything that would make participation more inclusive gets points in my book. That was the idea of the “drum circle” ….everyone can participate and anyone who wanted to did, spontaneously, without rehearsal, with “abandon” …..please do add ideas to the Jam Band that will have maximum audience engagement.

Mark: I absolutely agree with the dream that EVERYONE should be included, and that there should be no line between spectators and participants. As I reflected on that, I thought of another song that is not only perfect for this event, but also perfect as an SCN theme song – It’s called “Write Yourself In“, by Zach Laliberte – scroll to the bottom of the page (on my browser, for some reason all four songs on the page start playing simultaneously, so I have to stop the first three to hear the fourth)

It is a song that celebrates the fact that we ALL have something to contribute, that we all add beauty and meaning to the community, and that we should all “Write ourselves in” – contribute what we have to offer. If you listen to the lyrics, you’ll also hear the message that you get to choose how to “write yourself in”. Here’s just a sample.

“In a movie, I’m not a hero, and at best I’m the comic relief……in a fairy tale I’m not Prince Charming, just the jester that makes the Queen smile. I’m not a dragon, not the least bit alarming…….And that’s the truth of the story…….you either fight for the glory or run away when the king yells charge. But write yourself in. Write yourself in…..”

There are many advantages of this song over “The Gates” (though of course we could do both). For one thing, it is much easier to sing! It includes a reference to Frodo Baggins – and who doesn’t love Frodo? It allows for easy guitar accompaniment. And best of all, the author and singer lives in L.A., and would most likely be willing to come to Vegas to lead the crowd. I have taken workshops from Zach, and he embodies the spirit of SCN; he is also very talented at leading group “inclusion games” (too difficult to explain here), which could help build community at the event. And he’s a great live performer who could absolutely get the crowd to sing along.

I wanted to put this idea out there prior to the call on Monday so you’d have time to listen to the song. (cc Chip Rodgers. Seriously, consider having “Write Yourself In” as the SCN theme song!)

Dear all: I am SO sorry I couldn’t make the call! I had a meeting that was supposed to end at 4 Eastern…but lasted until 4:45. I hope you’ve come up with an awesome plan – and that it involves *music*!